As NATO slowly moves to improve its public messaging, who is running the psyops programs in Afghanistan?
Hearts and minds has been the buzz phrase for some time now, but Al Qaeda Franchise and Taliban propaganda efforts are still running circles around the US and NATO. These groups have launched increasingly sophisticated print and virtual media campaigns that directly address local grievances while the Western powers continue to play to their home audiences.
General McChrystal has been very busy, now ordering to troops to stop barrelling across public roads, damaging local infrastructure and scaring the locals, for example. Something certain special forces, private contractors and aid workers have been begging military personnel to stop doing for some time.
However there is still very little info on what is being done about messaging to the local population. Most of them still hate the Taliban and certainly do not trust them, however the Taliban are very successful at undermining NATO/US messaging, as they sabotage development efforts, blowing up schools we build and than fail to protect.
And really, why would Afghans trust coalition forces and aid organizations when we've failed to deliver so much over the last eight years, and every regime and invading power in the last 30 years has failed and left?
If psy-ops is running local messaging, I suspect this would be a very counterproductive approach. However even within NATO there communications are not always clear, transparent, and the Alliance's agenda sometimes even clashes with that of particular member states.
Many poles have been done among Afghans, but the international community, including humanitarian origanizations, still seem intent on ignoring them. This needs to stop. More local involvement and expertise is needed, the international presence needs to be far more coordinated and strive to achieve common goals rather than operating in a patchwork of competing spheres of influence and messaging.
Population protection and pro-active, nuanced and adaptive messaging system are absolutly key to events there taking a turn for the better.
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